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Marstep
Marstep is the capital, and largest city of the Marn region in Farthrone. It claims to be one of the only ancient great cities of Farthrone not built upon a ruin but instead remaining intact throughout the millennia having never fallen to besiegers or disaster. It is surrounded by a vast plain known as the Scorned Lands which is littered with mass graves, siege engines, towers and keeps that would-be conquers of the city have left behind over the generations. History Prehistory and Myth The true history of Marstep is a long contested matter, with many claiming that the city was founded by various heroic figures or groups comprised of these heroes who founded the city after some great battle. Others believe that the city was founded by the Old Gods of the world, creating the patron spirit of the city known as Mar to watch over an protect it. Regardless of the truth of the founding of the city, Marstep stands as a typical Farthrone settlement, filled with various races all living together with none truly dominating all aspects of society. Shardfall During the lead up to Shardfall, the city of Marstep was besieged by a former lord of the city who saw the falling star's arrival of a symbol of his ascension. Ironically it was the collision of the Shard and the earthquakes it caused that lead to his defeat, his siege towers collapsing as the world shook beneath them. Marstep weathered the epoch and it was here that the decision to mark the calendar from that point onward was made, with the large scholarly community in the city agreeing that Shardfall would be an event that all the world would know of and thus worthy of marking. It was also an excuse to address some issues with the previous iteration of the calendar system that had becoming less accurate as the years had gone on. For the next few centuries Marstep began to look inward, unable to assert any influence outside its walls allowing other powers to grow unchecked which grew to threaten the city itself. Current History Following the establishment of the Drenden Protectorate, the city of Marstep was spurred into action with the Back Council reasserting its claim over the region of Marn, deploying the Exemplars to the border to deter Company vessels from establishing encampments on the coast. Marstep's ruling body is torn between how to deal with the threat posed by the Protectorate, some fearing the city might be annexed by the power whilst others wish to assert the strength of the city to the world. The Revelation of Mar For more on this event, see here. During the early years of the Divine Era, Marstep was host to two of the divines that had come to Tolas in order to assert the will of their god Sune over the country. The two exarchs, Serenra and Iaseth eventually came into conflict with one another and began to battle over the city until the protector spirit Mar intervened and forced them apart, hurling them across the sky. Since then he has been quite silent, apparently reluctant to answer any questions about his appearance, especially the revelation that he was in fact a wind elemental rather that a direct force of nature as had been originally believed. War in the Silence For more on this event, see here. During the Silence of the Gods, the entity known as Mar began to send emissaries to the city of Marstep, monks with lesser air elementals bound to them came to the city. The monks bear an older mark associated with Mar, an inverted triangle with three branching lines. Marstep was subjected to two different invasions during the War in the Silence; an incursion by an army of lizardfolk that burst from hundreds of underground tunnels across the Scorned Lands, as well as breach into the surface by a number of monsters that had been forced up the Boneways. The first of these invasions was believed to have been either a precursor to the second, or the lizardfolk were forced out of their dwellings by the monsters encroaching on their territory. In both these conflicts, the Exemplars and the Eagle Society, along with the monks of Mar forced the lizardfolk towards Long river, and later scattered the various monsters into the Open Steppe, where they could be hunted down one by one. Structure The Empty Throne Marstep has had many rulers in its history, kings have sat in its Iron Halls and Emperors have used it as the seat of vast empires that stretched across the length of Farthrone. Currently there is no such ruler, the throne is empty as it has remained so in all of living memory. Records hold that the last kingship crisis took place during Shardfall when the Lord of the Day Star besieged the city to claim the throne after the exile of the Boy King. The Back Council The Back Council, named for the group's meeting position behind the currently empty throne of Marstep, is the true governing body of the city and beyond into the territory of Marn. It is comprised of various powerful individuals in the city that have been invited into membership by the Council itself. Military The Exemplars For more information on this organisation, see here. The Exemplars are the city's guards, expeditionary forces and police force. Comprised of knights, paladins and other orders held in high regard in society, members of this group have taken oaths to defend the city of Marstep from any threats that rise against it. This group has always been represented in the Back Council through their Commander. The Eagle Society For more information on this organisation, see here. The Eagle Society, taking the eagle heraldry of Marstep as its own, is a group devoted to discovering, or usually rediscovering, the many artefacts that have been lost to the civilisations of the continent. Called adventurers and archaeologists by many, the Society has attempted to raise its prestige in the city by recruiting widely and roaming out beyond Marn's borders. As yet their leadership has received no invitation to the Back Council. This group would also serve what small settlements and farms that the region of Marn holds beyond Marstep, hunting bandits and slaying monsters that threaten them. Many will form small parties that roam the region, trading their services in villages and farmsteads for a warm bed and a hot meal. Society Districts Marstep is separated into various districts based on ancient guilds that were once the ruling elite of the city but have since been removed from power, existing only as names on street signs or quality stamps. Years of conflicting city planning have left the city a mixture of large open squares, artificial lakes, narrow stone streets and wide paved roads as each ruler has attempted to apply a vision to the stones and cobbles of the city. Most of the districts are centred around some node or nexus of trade where the crafting or common occupation of the streets takes place, or at the borders between these streets. Every four years a race takes place in the city around the various districts, with the different businesses, streets and whole districts entering riders and mounts to participate. The winner is said to be blessed by Mar the spirit of the city, and their future ventures will be successful. The Walls The walls of the city rise over a hundred feet above the city, with many homes and businesses built into the very structure of the defences themselves as the push for space in the city grew across the centuries. Outside the walls is another sprawling district that in certain times of the year can stretch out to double or triple the size of the city as nomads and travelling traders descend on the city. Year round however certain professions do their business outside the protection of the city as their craft is deemed too dangerous to keep in the city or in some cases due to some ancient law keeping them from working inside the walls, such as tanners being banned from performing their work a certain distance from the palace due to a long dead queen's dislike of the foul smells produced by such activity. The Scholars of Wen The Scholars of Wen are a relatively recent group to emerge in the city, assembled from monks and researchers that took over the duties of recorders and keepers of the Astral Calendar, as those who carried out such tasks previously known as the Stargazers left the city in mysterious circumstances. This group has taken over the Tower of Records, a building built to house the mountain that is the history of the city, racks of scrolls and walls of shelves over burdened with tomes bearing most official documents the many rulers of Marstep have produced. Magic There has been no large order of magic users in the city devoted solely to the practice since the age of the Boy King, though their is no stigma attached to magic and the city has produced many great spell-casters in the past. Most sorcerer bloodlines can be found in the city, the most common being the Imperious as well as mixed lines, as generations of peoples and cultures from all across Farthrone have left their mark on Marstep. Demographics The races of Marstep include the following: Dominant Humans are the dominant races in Marstep, though many have dwarven, elvish, draconic, or more exotic ancestry. Humans take part in the majority of all aspects of life in Marstep, and it is likely that in most public areas in Marstep there will be crowds of humans going about their daily lives. Like many in Marstep, few of them are the descendants of true natives to the region, with wild variants in skin colour, styles of dress and accents. Minorities Dwarves, elves, dragonborn, halflings, and half-orcs make up some of the largest minority groups in Marstep, with many taking part in politics and representing sizable interest groups in the city. Many are the descendants of refugees or exiles from other lands, with many keeping the culture and languages of those places alive. Economy Internal Trade The city of Marstep has adapted to survive years of besieging, with an internal economy capable of self-sufficiency, with magically assisted farms producing enough food to ration to its citizens and keep its elites in relative luxury. The city has collection generations of expertise on crafting, many ancient techniques perfected eons ago by forgotten empires are performed daily by local blacksmiths and leather-workers. External Trade Marstep is in the process of opening itself up to trade with the Amaran region, years of isolation limiting its options to who it can deal with. Currently the Drenden Protectorate is the largest buyer of Marstep goods with trade being facilitated through the city of Mangmor along the Long River. The Eagle Society has been tasked with an exhibition to travel to the Jarlara Mountains to make contact with the settlements there, bearing an ancient pact made between the city and the Orjeri Union long ago that allows for free trade between them. Ambassadors have been sent to the city of Novdahain to seek to create lines of communication with the new rulers of the region, as Marstep had in fact had had an amicable relationship with the city upon which Novdahain now stands on. Religion The Spirit of Mar Mar is the spirit of the city, a force that shapes the lives of the people of Marstep who serves as the city's protector. Clerics, oracles and other such peoples have gained power from this spirit who empowers them with the forces of civilisation and protection. Thanks is given to Mar daily with the spirit being believed to prefer smaller tokens of appreciation rather than a gathering in a holy site to praise it, the exception being the race that takes place for its favour every four years. He is known sometimes as the ''Stained One ''referring to the many deaths and terrible acts of bloodshed that he has borne witness to over the countless years, some whose powers gained from Mar become more focused towards death and other darker aspects. Few worship Mar in this form with some believing this to be a separate spirit that dwells in the Scorned Lands that surround the city. During the years that the world was cut off from the Gods, the elven noble, Aerisi Kalinoth, has served as Mar's chief prophet. The Ten There exist in the city small shrines from long ago that are maintained by local groundskeepers. Anyone from Etan that passed one of these shrines would have trouble recognising one of the Ten from the effigies that these shrines house, forms taken from foreigners importing their gods into the city usually converting to the local worship of Mar with their descendants taking up the duty of keeping these small shrines hidden in gardens and alleys clean out of respect for the gods that got them to the city. Some have taken offence over the years over the presence of these shrines in the city, seeing them as an affront to Mar, though many philosophers agree that Mar seems to be untroubled by these small shrines, many of which are little more than hobbies for families seeking to reconnect with their ancestors.Category:Location Category:Farthrone Category:Settlement Category:Marn